Movie Script: Alien (1979)

Science fiction plucks from within
us our deepest fears and hopes then
shows them to us in rough disguise:
the monster and the rocket.

W.H. Auden

We live, as we dream — alone.

Joseph Conrad

“ALIEN”

FADE IN

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE:

INT. ENGINE ROOM

Empty, cavernous.

INT. ENGINE CUBICLE

Circular, jammed with instruments.
All of them idle.
Console chairs for two.
Empty.

INT. OILY CORRIDOR – “C” LEVEL

Long, dark.
Empty.
Turbos throbbing.
No other movement.

INT. CORRIDOR – “A” LEVEL

Long, empty.

INT. INFIRMARY – “A” LEVEL

Distressed ivory walls.
All instrumentation at rest.

INT. CORRIDOR TO BRIDGE – “A” LEVEL

Black, empty.

INT. BRIDGE

Vacant.
Two space helmets resting on chairs.
Electrical hum.
Lights on the helmets begin to signal one another.
Moments of silence.
A yellow light goes on.
Data mind bank in b.g.
Electronic hum.
A green light goes on in front of one helmet.
Electronic pulsing sounds.
A red light goes on in front of other helmet.
An electronic conversation ensues.
Reaches a crescendo.
Then silence.
The lights go off, save the yellow.

Floor to ceiling data banks.
Another flashing yellow light.
A legend underneath.
COMMAND PRIORITY ACCESS ONLY.
Dallas enters.
Sits at his console.
Removes insignia master computer key attached to
his shirt.
Plug it into the board under the light.
All banks burst into life.
Dallas punches up a computer code on the keyboard.

Legend on the screen…

What’s my God damn key.

Print-out from computer answers…

01335 on the binary side.

DALLAS
Thank you Mother.

Dallas punches up the combination on the keyboard.
Immediately start getting a readout.

CUT TO:

INT. BRIDGE

Above eye level the room is ringed by viewscreens.
All of them blank.
Kane, Ripley, and Lambert enter.
Dallas’ seat remains empty.
All of them now dressed; they find their way to individual
consoles.
Ripley puts down the cat, straps herself into the high-
backed chair.

KANE
Plug us in.

All three crew members begin throwing switches.
The control room starts to come to life.
Colored lights flicker.
Chase each other across glowing screens.

KANE
Give us something to look at.

Lambert presses a bank of switches.
Viewscreens glimmer into life.

LAMBERT
Take a look at this.

On each screen, blackness speckled with stars.

LAMBERT
Where’s Earth.

KANE
You’re the navigator.

RIPLEY
That’s not our system.

KANE
Scan.

Lambert hits several toggles.
On the screens the images begin to drift.

ONE OF THE SCREENS

A moving image of a starfield.

EXT. NOSTROMO

The Factory Starship lumbering with the depths
of inter-stellar space.

Ash descends companionway to blister.
Punches up screens and instrumentation.

INT. MAIN AIR LOCK – DAWN

DALLAS
Open the hatch.

Another servo whine.
Ponderously, the outer lock hatch slides open.
Clouds of dust and steam swirl before the three crew members.
A mobile gangway slides out the open hatch.
Burnt orange sunlight beyond.

EXT. PLANET – DAWN

The trio walk down the gangplank.
Arrive at surface level.
Their feet striking onto a thick layer of lava rock.
The wind at gale force.

DALLAS
Which way.

LAMBERT
Over here.

DALLAS
You lead.

Lambert walks into the storm.
Followed closely by the others.

LAMBERT
Now I can’t see a God damn thing.

ASH
(voice over)
Turn on the finder.

DALLAS
It’s on…Ash are you receiving.

INT. ASH’S BLISTER – DAWN

Ash leaning over his console.
Watches them beneath him.
Corresponding images on the screen in front of him.

ASH
See you. Read you. Good contact
on my board.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Getting you clear and free. Let’s
keep the line open.

EXT. PLANET – DAWN

The three crew members push their way along.
Like divers at the bottom of a dark sea.
The wind and dust continues driving down in dark sheets.
Lambert repeats.

LAMBERT
Can’t see more than three meters
in any direction.

KANE
Quit griping.

LAMBERT
I like griping.

DALLAS
Come on.

They wade on, following Lambert.
She halts abruptly.
Confused.

INT. BLISTER – DAWN

Ash watches intently.
Images on each screen of the trio.

LAMBERT
(voice over)
I’ve got it again.

ASH
Any problems.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Yeah. A lot of dust and wind.
Starting to get some fade on the
beam.

EXT. PLANET – DAWN

The trio moves through a dark limbo.

LAMBERT
This way.

Lambert indicates left.
Moves in that direction.
The others follow.
The storm growing.

Ripley is running the transmission through ECIU.
Over the speakers Dallas’ voice fades in.

DALLAS
(voice over)
No sign of life. No lights…
No movement…

She studies a long series of binary programs…

DALLAS
(voice over)
We’re beneath the base.

His voice fades into static.
Disappears.

CUT TO:

EXT. STRUCTURE – DAY

The lower part of the entrance filled with dust and pumice.

KANE
Looks like an entrance.

DALLAS
Yeah… Let’s move inside…

They climb up to one of the apertures and enter.

INT. CHAMBER – DAY

They move into a high-ceilinged chamber.
Walls covered with shadowy lattices.
Ghostly light filters dust-filled air.
A few meters in an opening appears.
Dallas leans over and looks into the hole.
Only blackness.
He unclips the light from his belt.
Shines it down into the hole.

DALLAS
It just goes down… smooth walls.
I can’t see the bottom, light
won’t reach.

They approach.
Train their lights along the floor.
A machine.
On the mechanism, a small bar moves steadily back
and forth.
Sliding noiselessly in the grooves.

KANE
Still functioning.

Lambert looks down at her direction finder.

LAMBERT
Automatic recording.

Dallas snaps it off.

DALLAS
Now for a look down below.
(looks at Kane)
This is your big chance.

KANE
Okay.

DALLAS
Don’t unhook yourself from the
cable. Be out in less than ten
minutes. Read me.

KANE
Aye aye.

Dallas rigs a tripod over the opening in the floor.
Unspools a couple of feet of wire.
Kane attaches the end of it to his chest unit.
Climbs over the lip and drops it into the hole.
Now hanging by the wire…
Head and shoulders out of the opening.
Kane activates the climbing unit.
Lowers himself into the fissure.

INT. STRUCTURE OPENING

Kane braces his feet against the wall of the vertical shaft.
Switches on his light, points it into the depths.
The beam penetrates only thirty feet or so, then is lost in
darkness.

KANE
Hotter in here. Warm air rising
from below.

He starts down, playing out the line.
Descending in short leaps.
Stops to catch his breath.
Breathing rasping loudly in his helmet.
A little sunlight filters from above.
Looking up, Kane can see the mouth of the hole…
A glowing spot of light.

DALLAS
(voice over)
You okay in there.

KANE
Haven’t hit bottom yet.
This is work. Can’t talk now.

He kicks off and continues down.
Taking longer and longer hops as he gains confidence.
Pausing for a moment to regain his breath, he shines the
light on his instruments.

KANE
I’m below ground level.

INT. BRIDGE

Ripley at her console, still working on transmission.
Gets a readout.
Looks worried.
Speaks into communicator.

RIPLEY
Ash, tell Dallas Mother speculates
that the noise is some kind of
warning.

ASH
(voice over)
I can’t tell him anything. I’ve
lost contact. The transmission
around the ship is killing all
communications.

ASH
(voice over)
What’s the point. In the time
it take to get there. They’ll
know if it’s a warning.

Ripley looks steadily at Ash on her monitor.
His screen, not visible to her, shows blowup of helmeted,
skeletal head. Not human.

INT. STRUCTURE

Kane resumes his downward climb.
Suddenly, his feet lose their purchase as the walls of the
shaft disappear.
The tunnel has reached its end.
Below him is a dark, cavernous space.
Deep breaths due to his violent exertion.

He consults his instruments.
Helmet instrumentation strobing softly in the darkness.

KANE
…high nitrogen content, no
oxygen…

Still puffing, he releases his purchase on the stone walls.
Begins to lower himself on power.
Now Kane is dangling free in darkness.
Spinning slowly on the wire as the chest unit unwinds.
Then his feet hit bottom.
Kane grunts in surprise, almost loses his balance.
He flashes his suit lights.
The beams reveal that he is in a large hold.
Row after row of extrusions stretch from floor to ceiling.

KANE
This is weird.

DALLAS
(voice over)
What do you mean.

KANE
There’s something all over the
walls.

Kane walks across the chamber.
Examines the organic protrusions.

INT. CHAMBER ABOVE

Dallas and Lambert.

DALLAS
How long till sunset.

LAMBERT
Twenty minutes.

A look from Lambert.

INT. HOLD

Kane approaches the center of the room.
On the floor are rows of leathery ovoid shapes.
He walks around them.
Shines his light on one.

KANE
It’s like some kind of storage
area. Is anybody there. Do
you read me.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Loud and clear.

KANE
The place is full of leathery
things sealed…soft to the
touch.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Can you see what’s in them.

KANE
I’ll give it a look.

He tries to open one of them.
It won’t open.

KANE
Strange feeling to it.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Don’t open it. You don’t know
what’s in it.

Kane peers closely at the leathery ovoids.
Turns away.
Raised areas begin to appear where he touched it.
He moves his light along the rows.
Turns back to the one he was examining.
Something has changed.
The opaque surface begins to clear.
Object becoming visible within.
Kane shines his light on the floor at the base of it.
He studies it.

KANE
Jesus…

DALLAS
(voice over)
What.

Viscera and mandible now visible.
The interior surface spongy and irregular.
Kane shines the light inside.
With shocking violence, a small creature smashes outward.
Fixes itself to his mask.
Sizzling sound.
The creature melts through the mask.
Attaches itself to Kane’s face.
Kane tears at the thing with his hands.
His mouth forced open.
He falls backward.

INT. CHAMBER ABOVE

DALLAS
Kane…Kane can you hear me.

LAMBERT
What’s the matter.

DALLAS
We better haul him out.

LAMBERT
It’ll yank him right off his feet
if he’s not expecting it.

DALLAS
Try him again.

LAMBERT
Kane…Kane…Goddamn it. Answer
me.

Dallas begins to fiddle with the wench mechanism.

DALLAS
The line’s slack.

Pause.

LAMBERT
He doesn’t answer.
(pause)
Do you think he could have unhooked
himself.

Dallas switches on the winch motor.
With a whine, it begins to reel the line in.
After a moment the line tightens with a jerk.
The motor slows, laboring under added weight.

DALLAS
It caught.

LAMBERT
Is it hooked on something.

DALLAS
No, it’s coming.

LAMBERT
I can’t see anything.

Dallas shines his light down into the hole.
Shakes his head.

DALLAS
Line’s still moving.

A long moment.
Dallas shines his light again.

DALLAS
Here he comes.

The winch labors heavily.

DALLAS
Get ready to grab him.

Kane appears at the top of the opening.
Dangles limply from the wire.
Dallas reaches for him, then recoils.

DALLAS
Look out. There’s something on
his face.

Lambert attempts to help.

LAMBERT
What is it.

Kane appears to be completely unconscious.
The life form is still wrapped motionless around his face.

LAMBERT
Oh Jesus.

DALLAS
Don’t touch it.

They grapple with Kane’s limp body.
Lift him from the hole.

INT. ENTRANCE TO DERELICT – SUNSET

Kane is now pinioned between Dallas and Lambert.
The storm raging through and beyond the entrance…
Dallas begins to assemble travois.

EXT. THE NOSTROMO – SUNSET

Atmosphere turning the color of blood.
And the sun is down.
The ring of floodlights on the ship comes to life.
Feebly combatting the darkness and continuing storm.

INT. BRIDGE

Jones the cat staring through a port opening at the storm.
Ripley waiting on the bridge.
Ash stares at his inactive monitors.
Suddenly:

Ripley staring at the console.
She can’t believe what she sees.
Turns to the viewscreens.
Watches Dallas, Kane and Lambert enter.

INT. PASSAGEWAY NEAR AIR LOCK

The servo again turns over.
Another clunk.
The outer door has closed.
Red light off.
The inner door slides open.
Dallas and Lambert stagger into passageway.
Carry Kane’s body between them.
Dallas pulls off his helmet.

DALLAS
Stay clear.

Ash and Parker move back.

ASH
God.

PARKER
Is it alive.

LAMBERT
I don’t know, but don’t touch it.

DALLAS
Take him to the infirmary.

BRETT
Right.

Ash and Brett move in carefully to help with the limp burden.

INT. INFIRMARY

Kane’s helmet.
Hands begin to open it with a laser cutter.
The helmet separates easily.
The two halves part…
…The life form slowly pulsing on Kane’s face.
Dallas hesitates, then puts his hand on the small Creature.
Tries to pull it free.
Unsuccessful.
The Alien remains anchored to Kane’s tissue.

ASH
Let me try.

Ash takes a pair of pliers from a rack.
Carefully grasps the tip of the Creature.
Squeezes tightly.
Leans back.

DALLAS
You’re tearing his face.

A trickle of blood appears on Kane’s cheek.

BRETT
It’s not going to come off without
pulling his whole faceoff at the
same time.

DALLAS
Let the machine work on him.

The Ash presses a switch.
The machine lights up.
Kane is sucked into a slot on the wall.
Visible inside through the glass layer.
A blinding colored light performs antisepsis.
Two video monitors pop on.

ANGLE ON THE DOORWAY

Ripley appears.
Dallas turns and looks at her.
A long moment.

DALLAS
When I give an order, I expect
it to be obeyed.

RIPLEY
Even if it’s against the law.

DALLAS
That’s right.

Lambert steps forward and slaps Ripley across the face.
Ripley slowly puts her hand to her cheek.

LAMBERT
You were going to leave us out there.

PARKER
Maybe she should have. Who the
hell knows what that is.

BRETT
Right.

Ripley looks at Lambert.
A moment.

RIPLEY
Let’s call it settled.

Lambert gives her a curt nod.
Ash turns attention to the instrumentation.

RIPLEY
Somebody fill me in.

DALLAS
He went into the structure alone,
we lost radio contact. When we
pulled him out, it was on his face…

ASH
Where did it come from…

DALLAS
Somewhere inside that ship.

PARKER
How the hell is he breathing.

They study the monitors.

ASH
Blood’s throughly oxygenated.

DALLAS
How. His nose and mouth seem
to be blocked.

ASH
We better look inside his head.

Ash punches three buttons.
An X-ray image appears.
A color depiction of Kane’s head and upper torso.
The Alien is clearly visible.
A maze of complicated biology.
Kane’s jaws are forced open.
The creature has extruded a long tube down his mouth and
throat.
The appendage ending at the base of the esophagus.

BRETT
It’s got something down his goddamn
throat.

ASH
That must be how it’s getting
oxygen to him.

RIPLEY
It doesn’t make sense. It paralyzes
him, puts him into a coma, then
keeps him alive.

PARKER
Let’s kill it. We can’t leave the
damn thing on him.

ASH
I don’t know. At the moment the
Creature is keeping him alive.
If we remove it we might
terminate Kane…

DALLAS
I don’t think so. Let’s take the
chance and cut it off him.

ASH
You’ll take the responsibility.

DALLAS
That’s right.

Slips into surgical gloves.
Presses a switch, Kane slides back out of the booth.

DALLAS
Give me the knife.

Ripley takes a surgical laser blade from the case.
Carefully passes it to Dallas.
He manipulates the knife until he has a comfortable grip.
Flicks a small button with his thumb.
The blade begins to hum.
Dallas advances on Kane’s prostrate form.
Touches the scalpel to the Creature.
The electronic blade slices effortlessly downward.
Suddenly a urine-like fluid begins to drip from the wound.

DALLAS
Starting to bleed.

The liquid flows onto the bedding next to Kane’s head.
Starts to hiss.
Smoke curls up from the stain.
Next the yellow fluid eats a hole through the bunk bed.
Then drips onto the deck below.
Metal bubbling and sizzling.
More smoke rising, sending the crew into a coughing jag.
The crew jostle their way out of the cabin.
Huddle in the passageway outside, still coughing.
Dallas frantically applies pressure to the wound.
In the process, smoke of the fluid gets on Dallas’s gloves.
They begin to smoke.
Dallas leaps back, pulls them off.
Then runs out into the corridor.

INT. PASSAGEWAY OUTSIDE INFIRMARY

BRETT
Shit. It’s going to eat through
the decks and go out the hull…

He starts to run for the companionway.

INT. PASSAGEWAY – “B” DECK

Dallas wrenches an emergency lamp from a socket.
Hurls himself down a companionway.
The others follow.

DALLAS
There.

A droplet of fluid is sizzling on the ceiling bulkhead.
It oozes down.
Drips to the deck.
Continues to bubble.
Then goes through the bulkhead.

ASH
What can we put under it.

Ripley and Parker charge down the companionway below.

INT. SECOND LEVEL – “C” DECK

Ripley and Parker move cautiously down the passageway.
Look up to the ceiling bulkhead.

PARKER
Don’t get under it.

INT. PASSAGEWAY – “B” DECK

Dallas, Brett and Ash crouch by the spot where the acid
sizzles.
Ash fishes a pen out of his pocket.
Probes the hole in the deck.

ASH
It’s stopped penetrating.

Ripley comes charging back up.

RIPLEY
What’s happening.

ASH
I think it’s lost steam. No
longer active.

Ripley checks the opening.
Ash straightens up.
Starts to put the pen back in his pocket.
Changes his mind and stands holding it by the end.

ASH
I’ve never seen anything like that,
except molecular acid…

BRETT
This thing uses it for blood.

ASH
It’s the asbestos that stopped it,
otherwise it would have gone straight
through.

DALLAS
Wonderful defense mechanism.
You don’t dare kill it.

Parker comes up the companionway.

PARKER
It’s stopped bleeding.

DALLAS
Yeah. After it penetrated two
levels.

RIPLEY
What about Kane.

Starts up companionway.

INT. INFIRMARY

They return.
Kane still motionless on the bunk.
The Alien remains secured to his face.
Wound completely healed over.

PARKER
Any of the acid get on him.

Dallas approaches, peers at Kane’s head.

DALLAS
Doesn’t look like it.

BRETT
Is it still dripping that crap.

ASH
Healed over.

LAMBERT
There must be some way we can get
it off.

And look at Dallas.

ASH
I don’t think you ought to try
again. It didn’t work out too well
last time.

Dallas gives him a look in return.
Ripley presses a button.
Kane slides back into the diagnostic coffin.
More buttons pressed.
Display lights up again, showing the different parts of
Kane’s body.

ASH
I better get some intravenous
feeding started. So far I can’t
tell what the Alien has absorbed
from his system.

The machine begins to process Kane’s body.

RIPLEY
What’s the stain on his lungs.

The X-ray reveals a spreading dark blot in the chest cavity.
At the center, the stain is completely opaque.

Ash running test on the equipment.
Kane respirating on the view screens above.
Still deep within a coma.
All instruments recording his life processes.
The Alien’s position unchanged.
Ripley approaches.
Sits near Ash.

RIPLEY
Anything new.

ASH
He’s holding, no changes.

RIPLEY
What about the Creature.

ASH
It’s got an outer layer of protein
polysaccharides. A lot of Amino
Acids for prolonged reistance to
adverse environmental conditions…
That enough for you.

RIPLEY
Plenty. What’s it mean.

ASH
Interesting combination of elements
making it one tough little son-of-
a-bitch…

RIPLEY
Is that why you let it in.

ASH
I was following a direct order.
Remember.

RIPLEY
While Dallas and Kane are off
the ship, I’m Senior Officer.

ASH
Yes, of course — I forgot.

RIPLEY
You also forgot the science division’s
basic quarantine law.

ASH
No. That I didn’t forget.

RIPLEY
You just broke it.

ASH
What would you have done with Kane…
His only chance at staying alive
was to get into the infirmary.

RIPLEY
By breaking quarantine procedure
you risk everybody’s life.

ASH
Maybe I should have let him die
out there. Maybe I have jeopardized
the rest of us…It’s a risk I’m
willing to take.

RIPLEY
This is your official position as
a science officer. Not exactly out
of the manual.

ASH
The first position of science is
the protection and betterment of
human life. I take my responsibility
as seriously as you do… you do your
job and I’ll do mine.

Ripley stands…looks at Ash.
Walks out.

INT. MESS

Lambert playing with some string, amusing Jones.
Cat’s Cradle.
Both looking bored.

INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE

Parker and Brett at work on the final intake screen.

INT. NARCISSUS

Dallas listening to a primitive tape.
His foot tapping with the rhythm.
Beep.
An interruption on the communicator.

DALLAS
Dallas.

ASH
(voice over)
I think you should have a
look at Kane. Something’s
happened.

Kane’s prone form.
The Alien is no longer on his face.
Kane still unconscious, but continues to breathe.
Face covered with sucker marks.

RIPLEY
The door is closed. It must still
be in there.

ASH
We can’t open the door. We don’t
want to let it out.

RIPLEY
Yeah, I remember. We can’t grab
it. We can’t kill it…

DALLAS
Maybe we can catch it.

ASH
As long as we’re careful not to
damage it.

INT. INFIRMARY

They enter cautiously.
Dallas begins moving slowly around the room.
Picking up a stainless steel tray.
Looking.
Ash and Ripley do the same.
Ripley bends down and peers under the bunk.
Nothing.
Accidentally kicks over a tray.
She stands.
Doesn’t see the Alien on a ledge above her.
Her shoulder brushes against the Creature.
It drops on her.
She screams. Twists.
The Alien drops to the floor.
Then lies motionless.
Its skin faded to a dead-looking grey.
Ripley doesn’t raise her eyes from the Creature.
Prods the Alien.
No response.

ASH
I think it’s dead.
(looks to Ripley)
You okay.

RIPLEY
Yeah.

She carefully touches the Creature with a metal probe.
Fishes the motionless life-form into the tray.
Quickly closes the lid.
Lifts it onto a stainless steel table.
Bright light trained on the Alien.
The Creature in a supine position.
Ash touches at the Alien with a surgical instrument.

ASH
Look at those suckers. No wonder
we couldn’t get it off him.

RIPLEY
Where’s its mouth.

ASH
It’s this tube-thing, up in
here.
(carefully extracts
the end of the organ)
It’s hardening.
(slips the Creature
under a fluoroscope)
It’s dead. No life sign whatever.

RIPLEY
Let’s get rid of it.

ASH
This has to go back. This is
our first contact with a
specimen like this. All kinds
of tests need to be run.

RIPLEY
That thing bled acid. God
knows what it’ll do when
it’s dead.

ASH
I think it’s safe to assume
it’s not a zombie… Dallas, we
have to keep this specimen.

Pause.

DALLAS
You’re the science officer. It’s
your decision.

ASH
Then it’s made… I’ll seal it
in a stasis tube.

Pause.

RIPLEY
What about Kane.

Ash turns back to the bunk.
Studies the life support gauges.
Kane continues to breathe steadily.

ASH
Running a fever. And still
unconscious. The machine will
bring his temperature down.
His vital functions are strong…
who knows, he may make it.

Ash begins to seal the Alien in a large vacuum tube.

RIPLEY
I need some coffee.

She turns and walks away.

INT. COMPUTER ANNEX

Ripley and Dallas.

RIPLEY
How could you leave that kind
of decision to him.

DALLAS
I just run the ship. Anything
that has to do with science
division, Ash has the final word.

RIPLEY
How does that happen.

DALLAS
Same way everything else happens.
Orders from the Company.

RIPLEY
Since when is that standard
procedure.

DALLAS
Standard procedure is do what
they tell you… Besides, I only
know about flying… I haul cargo
for a living.

RIPLEY
Did you ship out with Ash before.

DALLAS
First time. I went five hauls
with another science man. Then
two days before we left Thedus,
replaced him with Ash.

She looks at him.

DALLAS
So what. They replaced my
warrant officer with you.

RIPLEY
I don’t trust him.

DALLAS
I don’t trust anybody…What’s
holding up repairs.

RIPLEY
They’re pretty much finished now.

DALLAS
Why didn’t you say so?

RIPLEY
There are still some thing left
to do.

DALLAS
Like what?

RIPLEY
We’re blind on B and C decks.
Reserve power systems blown…

DALLAS
That’s crap. We can take off
without them.

RIPLEY
Is that a good idea.

DALLAS
I want to get out of here.
Let’s get this turkey off the
ground.

Outside the screens, clouds, clouds, clouds.
Another tremor runs through the ship.
The crew’s eyes riveted to their instruments.

DALLAS
Let’s pick up the money and go
home.

EXT. NOSTROMO

The ship clears the top of the cloud layer.
Bursts out into star-sprinkled space.
Trailing a wake of glimmering dust flecks.
Attached itself to the hovering refinery.

INT. ENGINE ROOM CUBICLE

Brett waves his arms in exultation.

BRETT
We did it

PARKER
Walk in the park. When we fix
something it stays fixed.

Big smiles.

INT. BRIDGE

The Nostromo now safely beyond gravity.

DALLAS
Set our course and get us up
to light plus four.

Lambert begins punching buttons.

LAMBERT
Feets get me out of here.

EXT. OUTER SPACE

The Nostromo now at light speed.
Preceptible movement in the surrounding universe.
A corona effect emerges.
Stars approaching the Nostromo appear blue.
Receding stars going to amber.
Redshift, made visible because of the craft’s velocity.

INT. MESS

Parker, Brett, Dallas and Ripley around the table.
Drinking coffee.

PARKER
The best thing to do is just to
freeze him. Stop the goddam
disease. He can get a doctor to
look at him when we get back home.

Kane’s face screws into a mask of agony.
He falls back into his chair.

KANE
Ohmygooaaaahh.

A red stain.
Then a smear of blood blossoms on his chest.
The fabric of his shirt is ripped apart.
A small head the size of a man’s fist pushes out.
The crew shouts in panic.
Leap back from the table.
The cat spits, bolts away.
The tiny head lunges forward.
Comes spurting out of Kane’s chest trailing a thick body.
Splatters fluids and blood in its wake.
Lands in the middle of the dishes and food.
Wriggles away while the crew scatters.
Then the Alien being disappears from sight.
Kane lies slumped in his chair.
Very dead.
A huge hole in his chest.
The dishes are scattered.
Food covered with blood.

LAMBERT
No, no, no, no, no.

BRETT
What was that. What the Christ
was that.

PARKER
It was growing in him the whole
time and he didn’t even know it.

ASH
It used him for an incubator.

RIPLEY
That means we’ve got another
one.

DALLAS
Yeah. And it’s loose on the
ship.

Slowly they gather around Kane’s gutted corpse.
Then they all look at one another.
Then at Kane.
Dead on the table.

RIPLEY
Let me tell you something. You
keep staring out there long
enough, they’ll be peeling you
off the wall.

Ripley begins taking off her boots.

DALLAS
We’re the new pioneers, Ripley.
We even get to have our own
special disease.

RIPLEY
I’m tired of talking.

She rises and removes her upper garments.

DALLAS
You waited too long.

RIPLEY
Give it a try anyway.

Clothing removed.
His arms move around her.

INT. BRIDGE

The crew has assembled.
Brett unfolds several yards of asbestos netting.
Hands out five thin rods.
Each of them like metal broom handles.

BRETT
I put portable generators in
each of these. They’re insulated
down here. Just be goddamn careful
not to get your hand on the end.

He touches the tip to a metal object.
A blue spark leaps.

BRETT
It won’t damage the little bastard
unless its skin is a lot thinner
than ours…It’ll just give it a
little incentive.

LAMBERT
Now if we could only find it.

Ash picks up a portable unit.

ASH
I’ve taken care of that…tracking
device. You set it to search for
a moving object…It hasn’t much
range but when you get within a
certain distance it starts beeping.

Ripley takes the tracker from Ash’s hand.

RIPLEY
What’s it key on.

ASH
Micro changes in air density.
Keep it pointed ahead of you.

DALLAS
We’ll break into two teams.
Whoever finds it first catches
it in the net and ejects it
from the nearest air lock.
(pause)
For starters, let’s make sure
the bridge is safe.

Parker turns on his unit.
Scans it around the room.

LAMBERT
We seem to be okay…If this
damn thing works.

DALLAS
Ash and myself will go with
Lambert. Brett and Parker will
make up the second team. Ripley,
you command it.

They start doling out the equipment.

DALLAS
Channels are open on all decks.
We’ll be in constant touch.

INT. PASSAGEWAY – “A” LEVEL

Lambert and Dallas carry the net.
Ash walks directly behind, carrying the tracking device.
He continually scans from side to side.
Lambert stops by a stairwell.

LAMBERT
Anything down there.

INT. ANOTHER PASSAGEWAY – “B” LEVEL

Parker and Ripley move silently along.
Ripley ahead of them with the tracker by the stairwell.

RIPLEY
Nothing.

The move on.
A small light flashes.

RIPLEY
Hold it. I’ve got something.

Parker and Brett grow tense.
Start looking around.

BRETT
Where’s it coming from.

Ripley peers closely at the tracker.

RIPLEY
Machine’s screwed up. I can’t
tell. Needle’s spinning all
over the dial.

BRETT
Goddamn, malfunction.

Ripley turns the tracker on its side.
The needles stabilize.

RIPLEY
No, just confused. It’s
coming from below us.

They all look down at their feet.

INT. MAINTENANCE – “C” LEVEL

Ripley, Parker and Brett come down ladder onto an endless
oily corridor.
They stop at the foot of the companionway…
They move down corridor into darkness.

RIPLEY
Okay.

Looks at the tracker.
Nods down the passageway. Stops.

RIPLEY
Back this way.

They begin to walk in that direction.
Entering drab section of the ship.
Surrounded by deep shadows.
Footsteps clanging on the metal deck.

RIPLEY
I thought you fixed 12 module.

BRETT
We did.

PARKER
Circuits must have burned out.

They switch on lights.
Move around two turns.

RIPLEY
Wait.

They stop quickly, almost stumbling.

RIPLEY
It’s within five meters.

Parker and Brett heft the net.
Ripley has the prod in one hand, tracker in the other.
Moves with great care.
Almost in a half-crouch, ready to leap back.
Prod extended, Ripley constantly glances at her tracker.
The device leads her up to a small hatch in the bulkhead.
Perspiration rivers down her face.
She sets aside the tracker.
Raises the prod, grasps the hatch handle.
Yanks it open.
Jams the electric prod inside.
A nerve-shattering squall.
Then a small creature comes flying out of the locker.
Eyes glaring, claws flashing.
Instinctively, they throw the net over it.
Very annoyed.
They open the net and release the captive.
Which happens to be the cat.
Hissing and spitting…it scampers away.

RIPLEY
God damn it…hold it.

PARKER
We should have killed it…Now
we might pick it up on the
tracker again.

RIPLEY
Go get it. We’ll go on.

BRETT
Right.

Ripley and Parker move down the passageway.
Brett follows the direction taken by the cat.
Moves across passageway into equipment maintenance area.

INT. EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AREA – “C” LEVEL

Brett walking between rows of shadowed equipment.
Looking for the cat.
Nervous.

BRETT
Jones…Here kitty…Jones…
Goddamn it Jones.

Scratching noises.
A reassuring cat yowl.
Brett moves on.

INT. PASSAGEWAY – “C” LEVEL

Ripley and Parker walk along.
Tracker signal weakens.
Finally stops.

RIPLEY
Nothing here.

PARKER
Let’s go back.

INT. UNDERCARRIAGE ROOM – “C” LEVEL

Brett enters.
Still looking for Jones.
Another yowl followed by a hiss.
Two eyes shining in the dark.
Jones.
Relieved, Brett moves toward the cat.

Brett reaches for Jones.
Jones hisses.
An arm reaches for Brett.
The Alien.
Now seven feet tall.
Hanging from the undercarriage strut in reverse position.
Grabs Brett and swings up into darkness.
Brett screams.
To no avail…
In the doorway Ripley and Parker.
They witness the horror.

INT. MESS

The remaining crew assemble.
Long faces.

LAMBERT
Now what.

PARKER
Blast the rotten bastard with
a laser and take our chances.

RIPLEY
No. At its present size it’s
holding enough acid to tear a
hole in this ship as big as this
room.

ASH
It wouldn’t do any good. It’s
self-regenerating. You saw that
when we operated on it.

RIPLEY
The only plan that’s going to
work is the same one we had
before. Drive it into an air
lock and blow it out into space.

PARKER
Drive it…The son-of-a-bitch
is huge.

LAMBERT
For once he has a point. How
do we drive it.

RIPLEY
The science department should
be able to help…

ASH
According to Mother, he’s a
primitive form of encephlepod…

LAMBERT
How come it’s a he.

ASH
Just a phrase. As a matter of
fact he’s both, bisexual or
hermaphrodite to be precise.

DALLAS
Skip its sex life. How do
we kill it.

ASH
It seems to have adapted to
an oxygen-rich atmosphere and
it’s certainly adapted well for
its nutritional requirements.
The only thing we don’t know
about is temperature.

RIPLEY
Curious isn’t it…That the
Alien is an encephlepod…

ASH
What’s so curious about that.

RIPLEY
It’s curious because lower
species can’t adapt as quickly
as higher ones. And this one’s
doing very well. A real survivor.
Might even have as good a chance
as we do.

ASH
You’re getting paranoid again.

RIPLEY
All right. What about the
temperature. What happens
if we change it.

ASH
Let’s give it a try. Most
animals retreat from fire.

Pause.

PARKER
I can hook up a couple of
incinerating units in about
fifteen minutes.

Pause.

DALLAS
Anybody got any better ideas.

Nobody does.

DALLAS
Okay. When Parker’s ready,
we’ll work our way back down
to ‘C’ deck.

The hum of vast cooling plants.
Large air shafts run off in different directions.
Parker and Lambert stand ready by a duct.
Lambert hits the wall amp button.

LAMBERT
We’re in position. I’ll try
and pick you up on the tracker.

Parker hefts his flamethrower.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Parker, if it tries to come
out by you, make sure you drive
it back in. I’ll push it forward.

PARKER
Right.

INT. AIR LOCK VESTIBULE

Near the starboard air lock.
Ripley pops open the hatch.
The air lock now open and ready.
She moves to the air duct opening.

RIPLEY
Air lock open.

DALLAS
(voice over)
Ready.

RIPLEY
Ready.

INT. AIR SHAFT

Dallas begins to crawl forward.
The tunnel is narrow…
Only a foot or two wider than his shoulders.

DALLAS
I’m under way.

Turns a corner.
Several more tight turns.
Instinctively Dallas pulls back.
Raises the flamethrower.
Fires a blast around the corner into the darkness.
It roars loudly in the confined tube.
Smoke drifts back into his face.

INT. MAINTENANCE LEVEL

A large rectangular duct in one wall.

PARKER
That’s where it’s got to come
out, if it leaves the main shaft.

He throws a switch.
A metal pane rises and seals off the opening.

LAMBERT
Let’s keep it open. I’d like
to know if anything’s coming.

Reluctantly, Parker again throws the switch and raises the
metal pane.

INT. AIR LOCK VESTIBULE

Ripley waiting.

INT. AIR SHAFT

Dallas still crawling on hands and knees.
Ahead the shaft takes an abrupt downward turn.
He moves toward the corner.
Fires another blast from the flamethrower.
Then starts crawling down, head first.

INT. EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AREA

Lambert sees something on the tracker.

LAMBERT
Beginning to get a reading on
you.

INT. AIR SHAFT

The shaft makes yet another turn.
Puts Dallas into an almost immobilized position.

INT. FOOD STORAGE LOCKER NUMBER 12

Ash staring at the ventilator opening.

INT. AIR SHAFT

Dallas against a wall of the shaft.
Clutching his flamethrower.
Whispers into his throat mike.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere a klaxon wails.
The Creature leaps back across the threshold of the air lock.
Bewildered.
Screams as the inner hatch closes on an appendage.
Acid boiling out.
The appendage crushed.
The acid bubbles.
Metal boils in door.

Ripley slams to a momentary halt against a bulkhead.
Regains her balance.
Starts running.

INT. PASSAGE NEAR AIR LOCK – “B” LEVEL

Parker now half conscious.
Ripley arrives as the hole in door blows open.
Escaping air shrieks.
Flashing sign comes on.
Critical depressurization.
Emergency klaxon.
Simultaneously vestibule doors close either end.
Sealing in Ripley and Parker.
Door nearest to Parker half-closed on one of the methane
cylinders.
Leaving large gap.
Windstorm begins as hole in air lock grows.
Ripley reaches for other cylinder.
Begins smashing the jammed cylinder out of door.
Blood froths at their noses and ears.
Cylinder finally is driven out.
The door slams closed.

INT. BRIDGE

Lambert watches.
Emergency light readings.

“Hull Breached”
“Emergency Bulkheads Closed”

LAMBERT
Ash, get the oxygen. Meet me at
the air lock.

Rushes out.
Down corridor.

INT. PASSAGEWAY NEAR AIR LOCK – “B” LEVEL

Ripley staggers toward an emergency panel.
At far end of corridor.
Pinging sound.
Misty atmosphere.
Tries to activate the door.
Cannot.
Lambert appears other side of bulkhead.
Activates door from outside.
Rush of oxygen.

Ripley cautiously descends the stairs to the blister.
Carrying a flamethrower.

INT. ASH’S BLISTER

Looks around the blister.
Satisfied it’s deserted.
She puts down the flamethrower.
Methodically begins to search for the key.
Faint tapping sound.
Then stops.
She looks around.
Sees nothing.
Resumes searching near blister window…
Ripley finds key…
Tapping sound.
She whips around to see:
Kane’s disfigured face slapping against the plexiglass.
She stifles a scream.
Drops the key onto the curved surface of the blister.
Fishes for it…
Kane’s bloated face swings in…
Beneath her.
She grabs the key and bolts up companionway.

INT. COMPUTER ANNEX

Ripley plugs the key into the board.
Data banks come to life.
She sits at a console.
Thinks for a moment.
Then punches up a code.
Nothing happens.
Punches another combination.
Nothing happens.
Frustration.
Another combination.
One screen comes to life.
Another combination.
She moves to the second keyboard.
Screen One spells out the question:
Question: WHO TURNED ON AIR LOCK 2 WARNING SYSTEM.
Response: ASH
Another code.
Question: IS ASH PROTECTING THE ALIEN.
Response: YES
New code.
Question: WHY
Response: SPECIAL ORDER 937 SCIENCE EYE’S ONLY
She starts a new code.
A hand slams down next to Ripley’s arm.
It sinks elbow deep into the computer.
She whips around in her chair.
Faces Ash.
Ripley lashes out with her foot.
Kicks him in the middle.
No effect.
Ripley twists away.
Ash throws a punch at her.
Misses.
She pushes a chair at him.
Overturns the desk…
And runs through bridge into mess.

He moves after her.
Gets her.
Parker and Lambert burst into the Mess.
Lambert falls on Ash’s back.
Ash turns to Lambert.
Tosses her across the room.
Returns to Ripley.
Again choking her.
Parker lifts the tracker.
Steps behind Ash.
Swings the tracker…Wallop.
Tears his head off…
Wires ascending from Ash’s trunk.
Where his head used to be.
Ash’s hands release Ripley.
Search above his neck for his missing head.
He walks backward.
All eyes on Ash’s headless body.
He walks the room.
Still feeling for his missing head.

PARKER
A robot, a God damn Droid.

Ash turns on him.
Starts to advance.
Parker hits him again with the tracker…
Again.
Again.
No avail.
Ash begins choking Parker.
Ripley picks up one of the prod sticks.
Closes on Ash’s back.
Tears away the fabric.
Lambert pulls at Ash’s legs.
Ripley tears at the controls buried in the cavity once
covered by his head.
Parker’s eyes bulge in pain.
Ash, headless, choking, choking, choking…
Ripley finds the wires, stabs the prod home…
Ash’s grip lessens.
Another stab…electrical flash…
The grip lessens…
Another stab…flash of circuits.
The headless body collapses.
Parker trying to regain his breath.

Ash’s head is placed on the table.
His eyes flicker into consciousness.

RIPLEY
What is Special Order 937.

ASH
You know I can’t tell you that.

RIPLEY
Then there’s not point in talking
to you. Pull the plug.

ASH
Special Order 937 in essence
asked me to direct the ship to
the planet, investigate a life
form, possibly hostile and bring
it back for observation. With
discretion, of course.

RIPLEY
Why. Why not tell us.

ASH
Would you have gone.

PARKER
It wasn’t in the contract.

ASH
My very point.

RIPLEY
They wanted to investigate the
Alien. No matter what happened
to us.

ASH
That’s unfair. Actually, you
weren’t mentioned in the order.

LAMBERT
Those bastards.

ASH
See it from their point of view.
They didn’t know what the Alien is.

RIPLEY
How do we kill it.

ASH
I don’t think you can. Not
in this ship, given its life
support systems. But I might
be able to.

RIPLEY
How.

ASH
I don’t know quite yet. I’m not
exactly at my best at the moment.
If you would reconnect…

RIPLEY
No way.

ASH
Don’t be so hasty. You’ll never
kill it without my help.

RIPLEY
We’ve had enough of your help.

ASH
You’ve barely got any oxygen left.
If you don’t go into hypersleep,
you’ll die with or without the
Alien.

RIPLEY
Nice try, Ash.

ASH
I will do whatever I can to help
you. I swear it.

PARKER
Pull the plug.

LAMBERT
I agree.

ASH
You idiots. You still don’t
realize what you’re dealing with.
The Alien is a perfect organism.
Superbly structured, cunning,
quintessentially violent. With
your limited capabilities you have
no chance against it.

LAMBERT
You admire it.

ASH
How can one not admire perfection.
I will kill it because I am
programmed to protect human life
as you know.

Ripley running toward engine room.
Out of breath.
Exhausted she stops, gulps for air.
Suddenly, ahead of her, the sound of human weeping.
She moves quietly ahead until the source of the sound is
directly under her feet.
She is standing on a round metal plate.
Ripley starts to remove the disc.

Something moves in the darkness.
Ripley spins, turns her light toward the movement.

Hanging from the ceiling is a huge cocoon.
Woven from fine, white, silk-like material.
Flamethrower ready, Ripley approaches.
Sees that the cocoon is semi-transparent.
The body of Dallas inside.

Unexpectedly, his eyes open.
FOCUS ON Ripley.
His voice is a whisper.

DALLAS
Kill me.

RIPLEY
What did it do.

Dallas moves his head slightly.
Ripley turns her light.
Another cocoon dangles from the ceiling.
But of a different texture.
Smaller and darker, with a harder shell.
Almost exactly like the ovoids in the derelict ship.

DALLAS
That was Brett…

RIPLEY
I’ll get you out of there…
We’ll get up the autodoc.

A long moment.
It’s hopeless.

RIPLEY
What can I do.

DALLAS
Kill me.

Ripley stares at him.
Raises the flamethrower.
Sprays a molten blast.
Another blast.
The entire compartment bursts into flames.
Ripley turns and scrambles back up the ladderway.

INT. OILY CORRIDOR – “C” LEVEL

Ripley emerges from below.
Gasps for breath.
Regains control of herself.

EXT. OUTER SPACE

At light speed.
The Nostromo and refinery appear to hang motionless.
Star clusters rolling past in the infinite distance.

INT. ENGINE ROOM – CUBICLE

Ripley enters the power center.
Stares at the massive light-plus engines.
Approaches the main control board.
Begins closing the switches, one by one.
A long moment.
Sirens begin to honk.
Mother speaks.

MOTHER’S VOICE
(o.s.)
Attention. The cooling units for
the light-plus engines are not
functioning. Engines will over-
load in four minutes, fifty seconds…

The door crashes open, Ripley comes pounding in.
The chamber filled with smoke.
Engines whining dangerously.
Ripley breaks out in perspiration from the intense heat.
She runs to the controls.
Begins throwing the cooling unit switches back into place.
The sirens continue sounding.

MOTHER’S VOICE
(o.s.)
Attention. Engines will overload
in three minutes.

Ripley pushes a button and speaks into it.

RIPLEY
Mother, I’ve turned all the
cooling units back on.

MOTHER’S VOICE
(o.s.)
Too late for remedial action.
The core has begun to melt.
Engines will overload in two
minutes, thirty-five seconds.

A moment.
The Ripley turns and runs from the engine room.

INT. OILY CORRIDOR – COMPANIONWAY

Ripley runs back down the corridor.
Up the companionway, exhausted, stumbling…

MOTHER’S VOICE
(o.s.)
Attention. Engines will overload
in two minutes.

INT. “B” LEVEL – COMPANIONWAY

She reaches companionway.
Picks up Jones.

INT. “B” LEVEL – CORRIDOR LEADING TO NARCISSUS

Ripley staggers towards the air lock.
The Narcissus berthed beyond.
She drags Jones and raises the flamethrower.
Turns to see if the Creature is behind her.
Then advances down the passageway.
Goaded on by the computer.

The Narcissus continues to power away from the mother ship.
The larger bulk of the Nostromo quietly receding.
All is strangely serene.

INT. NARCISSUS

Ripley finishes strapping herself in.
Reaches and grabs the cat box.
The cat yowling within.
Ripley hugs the box to her chest.
Hunches her head down over the container.

EXT. SPACE

The Nostromo drifts farther away from the shuttle-craft.
Finally becomes a small point of light.
Then it blows up.
Transforms into expanding orange fireball.
Pieces of metal flying in all directions.
And then the refinery explodes.
200,000,000 tons of fuel blasting silently into the cosmos.

INT. NARCISSUS

The shockwave hits the shuttle craft.
Jolting and rattling everything within.
Then all is quiet.
Ripley unhooks herself from her straps.
Rises, and goes to the back of the escape craft.
Stares out through the porthole.
Face bathed in orange light.

EXT. SPACE

Piece of debris float past.
The boiling fireball fades into nothingness.
The Nostromo has ceased to exist.

INT. NARCISSUS

Ripley watching the final destiny of her ship and crew mates.
A very long moment.
Then, behind her, the lethal hand emerges from deep shadow.
The Alien has been in the shuttle-craft all along.
The cat yowls.

Ripley whirls.
Finding herself facing the Creature.

Ripley’s first thought is for the flamethrower.
It lies on the deck next to the Alien.
Next she glances around for a place to hide.
Her eye falls on a small locker containing a pressure suit.
The door standing open.
She begins to edge toward the compartment.
The Creature stands.
Comes for her.
Ripley dives for the open door.
Hurls herself inside.
Slams it shut.

INT. LOCKER

A clear glass panel in the door.
The Alien puts its head up to the window.
Peers in at Ripley.
Their faces only two inches apart.
The Alien looking at Ripley almost in curiosity.
The moaning of the cat distracts it.

INT. NARCISSUS

The Alien moves to the pressurized cat box.
Bends down and peers inside.
The cat yowls louder as his container is lifted.

INT. LOCKER

Ripley knocks on the glass.
Trying to distract the Creature from the cat.
The Alien’s face is instantly back at the window.
Getting no more interference from her, the Creature
returns to the cat box.
Ripley looks around.
Sees the pressure suit.
Quickly begins to pull it on.

INT. NARCISSUS

The Alien picks up the cat box.
Shakes it.
The cat moans.

INT. LOCKER

Ripley is halfway into a pressure suit.

INT. NARCISSUS

The Creature throws the cat box down.
Very hard.
Picks it up again.
Hammers it against the wall.
Then jams it into a crevice.
Begins to pound the container into the opening.
The cat now beyond all hysteria.

INT. LOCKER

Ripley pulls on the helmet, latches it into place.
Turns the oxygen valve.
With a hiss, the suit fills itself.
A rack on the wall contains a long metal rod.
Ripley peels off the rubber tip.
Revealing a sharp metal point.

INT. SPACE SUIT LOCKER

Ripley inhales.
Kicks the door open.

INT. NARCISSUS

The Creature rises.
Faces the locker.
Catches the steel shaft through its midriff.
The Alien clutches at the spear.
Yellow acid begins to flow from the wound.
Before the fluid can touch the floor…
Ripley reaches back and pulls the switch.
Blows the rear hatch.
The atmosphere in the shuttle immediately sucked into space.
The bleeding creature along with it.
Ripley grabs a strut to keep from being pulled out.
The Alien shoots past her.
Grab’s Ripley’s ankle with an appendage.

EXT. NARCISSUS

Ripley now hanging halfway out of the shuttle-craft.
The Alien clinging to her leg.
She kicks at it with her free foot.
The Creature holds fast.

The Alien still outside the shuttle-craft.
Within the vacuum of space.
The top of its appendage mashed into the closed hatch.

INT. NARCISSUS

Acid starts to foam along the base of the hatch.
Eats away at the metal.
Ripley stumbles forward to the controls.
Pushes the ram jet lever.

EXT. NARCISSUS – OUTER SPACE

The Creature struggling.
Jet exhaust located at the rear of the craft.
The engines belch flame for a few seconds.
Then shut off.
Incinerating, the Alien tumbles slowly away into space.

INT. NARCISSUS

Ripley hurries to the rear hatch.
Peers through the glass.

EXT. OUTER SPACE

The burned mass of the Alien drifts slowly away.
Writhing, smoking.
Tumbling into the distance.
Pieces dropping off.
The shape bloats, then bursts.
Spray of particles in all directions.
Then smoldering fragments dwindle into infinity.

INT. NARCISSUS – LATER

Now repressurized.
Ripley is seated in the control chair.
Calm and composed, almost cheerful.
Cat purring in her lap.
She dictates into a recorder.

RIPLEY
I should reach the frontier in
another five weeks. With a
little luck the network will
pick me up…This is Ripley,
W564502460H, executive officer,
last survivor of the commercial
starship Nostromo signing off.
(pause)
Come on cat.